Accountability Quotes

We must demonstrate to the American people that in our system of justice all are equal under law, and that there are not two sets of rules, one for Donald Trump and another for everybody else.

The best (remedy) I can devise would be to give future commissions to (federal) judges for six years with a re-appointability by the President with the approbation of both houses. If this would not be independence enough, I know not what would be.

The successful leader must be willingto assume responsibility for the mistakesand the shortcomings of his followers.

My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington.

Our lives are a sum total of the choices we have made.

Responsibility is the price of freedom.

I am your servant. You have the right to dismiss me when you please. What you have no right to do is ask me to bear responsibility without the power of action.

A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.

Universal, equal, direct and secret elections in the U.S.S.R. will be a whip in the hands of the population against poorly functioning organs of government.

Since I'm the president and Democrats have controlled the House and the Senate, it's understandable that people are saying, you know, 'What have you done?'

Secrecy destroys accountability.

No excuses ever, for anyone; that is my principle at the outset. I deny the good intention, the respectable mistake, the indiscretion, the extenuating circumstance. With me there is no giving of absolution or blessing.

The federal government is our servant, not our master.

You are responsible for your life. It doesn't matter what your Mama did. It doesn't matter what your Daddy didn't do. You are responsible for your life.

Since I've been in the Senate, is that my work with people like Tom Coburn on opening up transparency in government, making sure that every dollar the federal government spends that's out there - that that's all posted on a searchable database on the Internet.

Are you better off than you were four years ago? One of my favorite quotes Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores ... Is there more or less unemployment?

I think the reality of prison is you don't get anything unless you want it in there. Whatever happens to you in prison, this is what you asked for. Nothing happens to you if you don't give that vibe.

A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.

Performance should be made square with promise.

... the fact is it didn't happen in the first month, the first six weeks, in a way that was at all acceptable. And since I'm in charge, obviously, we screwed it up.

When you start talking about government as 'we' instead of 'they,' you have been in office too long.

We need a revolution every 20 years just to keep government honest.

There was a stool there, and some fella kept asking me if I wanted to sit down. When I saw the stool sitting there, it gave me the idea. I'll just put the stool out there and I'll talk to Mr Obama and ask him why he didn't keep all of the promises he made to everybody.

Everybody will make mistakes, and for some that mistake will rise to the level of being a crime.

No alibi will save you from accepting the responsibility.

Everything you do is based on the choices you make. It's not your parents, your past relationships, your job, the economy, the weather, an argument or your age that is to blame. You and only you are responsible for every decision and choice you make. Period.

No government should be without critics. If its intentions are good then it has nothing to fear from criticism.

[The man] thinks he's being condemned because of his color but actually he's being condemned because of his deeds, his conscious behavior.

When you abandon making choices, you enter the vast world of excuses.

If we did ten things, nine were bad and got disclosed by the newspapers, we will be over. Then I will go, to the countryside, lead the peasant and revolt. If the Liberation Army do not follow me, I will get the Red Army.

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to do and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody would do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Forgiveness does not mean excusing.

Responsibility and commitment are key elements in meeting obligations.

There is no better proof of a man's being truly good than his desiring to be constantly under the observation of good men.

When admins have faults, they do not fear to ignore them

There are times where I've made mistakes or our administration hasn't always aligned ourselves with the values we need to align ourselves with. It's a work of constant improvement.

No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no one ever will.

An organization that is not facing up to people who are not getting the job done, is going to have difficulties.

History and the generations to come will judge our leaders by the decisions they make in the coming weeks.

Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.

It is so easy to be wrong-and to persist in being wrong-when the costs of being wrong are paid by others.

A leader can give up anything - except final responsibility.

Power has to be insecure to be responsive.

To announce there must be no criticism of the president or that we are to stand with the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.

Are you willing to push the right buttons even if it means being perceived as the villain? … I'd rather be perceived as a winner than a good teammate. I wish they both went hand in hand all the time but that's just not reality. … I have nothing in common with lazy people who blame others for their lack of success.

Cheaters don't like getting caught.

For with primacy in power is also joined an awe inspiring accountability to the future.

On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.

A loss is not a failure until you make an excuse.

Keep the boss aware. Bosses, after all, are held responsible by their own bosses for the performance of their subordinates. They must be able to say: "I know what Anne [or John] is trying to do."

I continue to believe that she has not jeopardized America's national security. Now, what I've also said is that, and she's acknowledged, that there's a carelessness in terms of managing emails that she has owned and she recognizes. But I also think it is important to keep this in perspective. This is somebody who has served her country for four years as secretary of state and did an outstanding job, and no one has suggested that in some ways, as a consequence of how she handled emails, that that detracted from her excellent ability to carry out her duties.

A chief is a man who assumes responsibility. He says 'I was beaten,' he does not say 'My men were beaten.'

Not to oversee workmen is to leave them your purse open.

We are each responsible for our own life-no other person can be.

The guilt of a government is the crime of a whole country.

Leaders, whether in the family, in business, in government, or in education, must not allow themselves to mistake intentions for accomplishments .

The accountability of government has gone to the point where the very use of the law is the instrument of illegality.

If you know what's going on and know how society can be improved and happiness advanced, you tend to focus on how to get things done that will help health, safety, opportunity, justice, accountability of powerful institutions to the people they are supposed to serve.

Leadership is taking responsibility while others are making excuses.

Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from us. We have duties to others and duties to ourselves; and we can shrink neither.